Nickoli Strommer (’14) as the title role in Owen Wingrave:
“When an individual comes to the knowledge of an important truth, resilience is their greatest asset. For Owen, this truth was ‘peace.’ His great faith in peace and his ability to press on through hardship, hate, and scorn make him a character to be admired.”

Celia Pain (’13) as Matilda in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds:
“Resilience is about finding channels to express yourself, and finding beauty in life despite obstacles and negative forces. Tillie’s science is her passion, just as art is mine, so that was one way I connected with this role.”

Chloe Fuller (’13) as the title role in Anne Boleyn:
“Anne was a woman living in a man’s world, and refused to be anything less than she could be. Through the process of playing her, I learned that if I don’t go for what I want, I’m never going to get it. There’s no point in just waiting for something to come to me.”

Benjamin Taylor (’14) as Chevalier des Grieux in Le Portrait de Manon:
“Des Grieux used to be a young man full of love, but after Manon died, he became a bitter old drunk. His love for her was resilient in the sense that he never found another love—and he wanted to make sure that his nephew didn’t fall into the same life.”

Keyword: Resilience

KEYWORD: Resilience

The 2012–2013 “keyword” for the College of Fine Arts was RESILIENCE, a term that readily applies to CFA students and their daring works. Established by CFA Dean Benjamín Juárez, the Keyword Initiative encourages the Schools of Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts to focus their varied programming on a unifying theme and collaborate across genres. “Resilience has a positive energy to it—the notion that the human spirit conjures something better than survival,” says Jim Petosa, director of the School of Theatre. “Resilience is survival with panache.”

The School of Theatre Keyword productions ranged from Paul Zindel’s The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, in which a self-destructive mother vents her unhappiness on her daughters, portrayed by Celia Pain and Casey Tucker (’14), to Howard Brenton’s sweeping Anne Boleyn, with Chloe Fuller in the title role.

In Benjamin Britten’s opera Owen Wingrave, a young pacifist, played in alternating performances by Nickoli Strommer and Isaac Bray (’14), must decide where his loyalty lies when his military family challenges his convictions. And in Jules Massenet’s Le Portrait de Manon, a nobleman, portrayed by Benjamin Taylor, tries to save his nephew from making the same mistakes he did.

The Initiative reinforces the School of Music’s and School of Theatre’s long-standing emphasis on collaboration to produce the College’s operas. William Lumpkin, acting director of the Opera Institute, explains: “The musicians prepare the roles while the School of Theatre students design sets, costumes, and lighting, and stage-manage the productions.”

CFA also promoted cross-genre collaboration with symphony performances and events hosted by the School of Visual Arts.

The Boston University Symphony Orchestra & Symphonic Chorus, Boston Children’s Chorus, and three soloists joined forces in the highlight of the Symphony’s Resilience season: Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, conducted by Director of Orchestral Activities David Hoose at Symphony Hall on November 19, 2012. A lusty cantata based on medieval texts that mingle Christianity and bawdy celebration for the pleasures of life and love, Carmina Burana opens and closes with a litany to fickle fortune.

Through the Alternative Visions / Sustainable Futures exhibition and event series, the School of Visual Arts invited the wider BU community to consider how critical dialogue and innovative eco-artistic practices can bring about change. The series featured an exhibition at 808 Gallery, lectures with visiting artists like the multimedia art collaborative Futurefarmers, and a host of ancillary events. (Intrigued? Click here to read more about Alternative Visions / Sustainable Futures.)

Across all three schools, CFA students embody the spirit of resilience in their practice and their public work. “Today, more than ever, the world needs leaders educated with a sense of inspiration, imagination, and vision,” says Juárez. “CFA is defining the role of the artist in the twenty-first century: an artist able to thrive in difficult times—a citizen artist, resilient in the face of uncertainty and determined to make the world a better place.”

The Keyword Initiative is funded in part by Nancy Livingston (COM’69) and her husband, Fred Levin, through the Shenson Foundation in memory of Ben and A. Jess Shenson.